Fremantle’s charge to September continues as Hawthorn’s blows big top-four chance
A victory on Saturday night would have seen the Hawks leapfrog Geelong into the top four – but, instead, Sam Mitchell’s side is back in the pack with a tricky run to come.
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Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said Saturday night’s loss to Fremantle in Perth was a kick in the guts.
The Hawks led by 12 points in the final term, and sat in the top four on the live AFL ladder when they did.
But they failed to kick a goal in the last quarter, losing to the Dockers by 13 points and dropped to sixth.
Mitchell said the game had a finals feeling to it and while he knows his side’s best can match it with the best teams in the competition, they know they have to play at a very high level over the remainder of the season to achieve what they set out to do.
“There’s nine teams that have got a slight gap on the rest, and there’s only eight that make the finals, and there’s only four that get what everyone really wants, which is the top four spot,” Mitchell said.
“And we know we’re going to have to play really consistent high-level footy for the rest of the season if we want to be where we want to get to.
“If we had have won tonight, does that guarantee anything? No.
“Does losing tonight guarantee anything? No.
“So, it’s a bit of a punch to the stomach. But you know, we’ve still got plenty of fighting us for the rest of this season.
“I think we’re six on the ladder, so the ball’s in our court, and we’ll be back next week, lick our wounds the next 24 or 48 hours, and get back at it.
“We’ve got some work to do to compete against the very best sides, and when they really brought the heat late in the game, we couldn’t quite stand up to it today.”
The numbers the Hawks put up in the final term against the Dockers do not make good reading.
They had 20 fewer possessions, with only four Hawks having five touches or more for the term.
They put on 15 tackles to the Dockers 30 and had seven fewer inside 50 entries.
Fremantle won contested possession by nine in the final 30 minutes.
They scored 0.2 to Fremantle 4.4.
The Hawks had controlled all of those measures, except tackles, at times during the first three quarters and led by 13 points at the last change.
Mitchell said his side just couldn’t go with Fremantle when the game was on the line.
“When you play Freo in Perth, you know that their record here is pretty good, and they play well,” he said.
“So, we knew we were going to have to play a full four quarters to beat them. We only played three.
“We thought we competed pretty well for the majority of the game, and just couldn’t quite get a big enough lead to get as far in front as probably needed to.
“Then obviously, we didn’t handle the last quarter very well at all, and weren’t able to get it into our front half and didn’t handle their pressure well enough.
“It’s a pretty big cauldron over here. and it was too much for us.”
No job given
The Hawks confused everyone pre-game when Finn Maginness was named as the starting substitute.
Opposition teams have had success against Fremantle this season when Caleb Serong has been tagged.
And Maginness was highly expected to get that job from the first bounce.
At half-time, the Dockers star midfield pair, Serong and Andrew Brayshaw, led possession getters for the game, with 17 apiece.
But the Hawks led the game by nine points.
Even when he did join the game, Maginness didn’t appear to be running with either of the Dockers stars.
And it looked to have paid off late in the third term when he kicked a goal to give the Hawks 13-point lead.
Pair let to run
Maybe Maginness should have started and tagged either Brayshaw or Serong though.
The pair collected 29 disposals between them and 15 clearances.
Serong had matched the 18 disposals he had in round 17 in a loss to Sydney, early in the third term on Saturday night.
Conor Nash and Josh Ward seemed to be given most of the responsibility early.
Serong averages more than 31.33 disposals this season, but only 20.7 when the Dockers lose.
That has dropped to 15.75 when given close attention in four games this season, twice against St Kilda and twice against the Sydney Swans.
It’s surprising more teams don’t run players with him.
It’s surprising Hawthorn didn’t do more to try to stop him.
Vital cog returns
Sam Switkowski has again proven how crucial he is to any success Fremantle wants to enjoy.
Saturday was First game back from a few weeks out with a hamstring strain.
The Dockers way to goal is way much easier when he’s playing.
He started slowly, with just one touch in the opening term.
His second kick came less than one minute into the second term, a goal, that gave Fremantle an 11-point lead.
He also kicked the first goal in each of the third and fourth terms and finished with three goals.
He’s not just dangerous in front of goal. His delivery inside the Dockers forward line is as good as anyone in the side.
He finished the game with 16 disposals and four inside 50 entries. The Dockers can do anything this season if he remains fit.
Calsher Dear kicks a ripper in his return game 🌟#AFLFreoHawkspic.twitter.com/FKKMHbtqvC
— AFL (@AFL) July 12, 2025
Forwards aplenty
The Hawthorn forward line is becoming a difficult one to contend with.
Calsher Dear returned to the side on Saturday night and looked dangerous.
The youngster has battled back injuries this season and was playing just his second game for 2025, his second season.
He kicked two, to complement other talls Jack Gunston (one) and Mabior Chol, who had a quiet night.
The Hawks excelled when the ball hit the ground in attack though, with 25 tackles inside their forward 50m area.
Dylan Moore, Connor Macdonald, Nick Watson and Jack Ginnivan all kicked goals –
There might be some decisions to make at the selection table in the weeks leading to the finals though, with key forward Mitch Lewis kicking five goals playing for Box Hill in the VFL, as he continues to build from his return from an ACL.
Scoreboard
FREMANTLE 3.1 6.1 8.1 12.5 (77)
HAWTHORN 2.2 7.4 9.8 9.10 (64)
BEST
Dockers: Brayshaw, Serong, Clark, Switkowski, Ryan, Jackson, Ryan.
Hawks: Amon, Ginnivan, Worpel, Newcombe, Sicily, Nash.
GOALS
Dockers: Switkowski 3, Frederick 2, Bolton 2, Amiss 2, Voss, Darcy, Treacy.
Hawks: Dear 3, Macdonald 1, Watson, Moore, Maginness, Gunston, Ginnivan.
INJURIES Dockers: Johnson (head). Hawks: Nil.
49,460 at Optus Stadium.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
BRAD ELBOROUGH’S VOTES
3 Andrew Brayshaw (FRE)
2 Caleb Serong (FRE)
1 Karl Amon (HAW)
Originally published as Fremantle’s charge to September continues as Hawthorn’s blows big top-four chance
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